Liminal Environments: Exploring the Interplay of Land and Sea in Southern Italy

Abstract

The presentation stems from an ongoing photo-filmic and wirting project on a liminal territory between land and sea. Inland of Vibo Valentia province (Southern Italy), locals say that the sea once submerged the land. Indeed, geological studies demonstrated that the area is made of marine terraces uplifted during the Pleistocene and the area is considered a rich heritage by paleontologists. The traces of the sea are still visible inland: cliffs display steep walls of white sands and marine fossils. These make one perceive a deep time, placing the lands in a liminal state, a state of transition that anticipates something to come. This area is a “fragile landscape”: while the temperatures are rising, the inland has been increasingly depopulating. It is a compelling case study as the liminal past time of shifting waters and topographies suggests a future in which the sea will move again, resonating with movements now brought about by climate change, including migrations through waters. Yet human mobility in these lands is not new, as many emigrated from this province in the twentieth century, first to Argentina at the beginning of the century, then to northern Italy. Oral stories of these mobilities are common in family histories. This presentation shares the first outcomes of fieldwork conducted in key sites - such as the rock settlement of Zungri and the quarries of Cessaniti - and elaborates on the local mythologies of mobility of and through waters by drawing upon anthropological sources and autobiographical memories.